Why there is water everywhere
A gongfu session pours water outside the vessels on purpose: cups are scalded before use, the pot is warmed, a rinse infusion is discarded, and some styles pour over the outside of the pot to hold its temperature. None of this is decoration and all of it produces waste water at the table. Every arrangement below is a solution to that one problem.
The wet tray
A slatted or double-layered tray catches everything, draining either into a reservoir underneath or through a tube into a bucket. It is the most forgiving setup, it tolerates enthusiastic pouring, and it demands emptying during the session rather than after, because a full reservoir overflows at the worst moment. Bamboo trays split if left standing in water; stone and ceramic do not, and weigh a great deal.
The dry table
Vessels stand on a cloth or mat, no water touches the table at all, and everything that would have been poured out goes into a separate open bowl instead. It needs a more careful hand and it needs a bowl within easy reach. In exchange it is portable, it costs almost nothing, it works on any table, and it does not commit a room to a large piece of furniture. It is also the setup that suits a cha he and a considered arrangement of objects, which is much of why it has become common.
What you actually need for either
A brewing vessel, a way to catch waste water, a cloth, and somewhere to put the kettle that is not in the path of your pouring arm. That is the whole requirement. A serving pitcher is worth adding as soon as more than one person is drinking. Everything else — tool sets, tea pets, cup stands, presentation dishes — is furnishing, and it is worth being clear-eyed that a well-stocked tray is a pleasure rather than an improvement.
Layout, and the two things people get wrong
Put the kettle where its spout does not cross over the cups, because the drips from a kettle spout land somewhere and you would rather it was not in a cup. And put the waste vessel on the side of your pouring hand, close enough that a full gaiwan travels a short distance — the most common accident at a tea table is a hot vessel carried too far across other objects.